中国科学院南京地质古生物研究所朱茂炎团队发现燧石特异埋藏可作为跨越埃迪卡拉纪-寒武纪边界的生物革命的新窗口。2025年3月10日，《地质学》杂志发表了这一成果。

显生宙型生物圈是在寒武纪爆发期间建立的，当时以微生物和埃迪卡拉纪型生物群为主的生态系统发生了转变，以适应新兴的动物群落。然而，研究组对这场生物圈革命的过程和机制的了解仍然是零碎的，部分原因是受埋藏学窗口可用性的限制，古生物学数据不完整。

研究组强调了燧石特异埋藏的潜力，以补充其对埃迪卡拉纪-寒武纪边界生物圈变化的理解。扬子克拉通不同沉积相的8个露头的燧石显示了最顶部埃迪卡拉纪和基底寒武纪层段之间的对比化石组合。埃迪卡拉纪组合是统一的，以神秘的线状和带状化石为主，而特伦纽维阶地层组合则包含各种各样的碳质微化石和矿化骨骼，反映了一个新的复杂生态系统。

这两个组合都有从近端到远端相分布的成员。值得注意的是，各种可能与后生动物有亲缘关系的奇特薄膜化石在寒武纪组合中很常见，但在埃迪卡拉纪和更古老的燧石中似乎不存在，这意味着在最早的寒武纪，复杂的多细胞真核生物突然发生了创新。尽管在埃迪卡拉纪-寒武纪边界的连续露头燧石序列中观察到了这一创新，但需要进一步调查，以测试对比化石组合是否反映了埋藏学偏差或不明显的间断。

附：英文原文

Title: Chert Lagersttten as a new window to the biological revolution across the EdiacaranCambrian boundary

Author: Cui Luo, Maoyan Zhu

Issue&Volume: 2025-03-10

Abstract: The Phanerozoic-type biosphere was set up during the Cambrian explosion when the ecosystem dominated by microbes and Ediacara-type biota shifted to accommodate burgeoning animal communities. However, our knowledge about the processes and mechanisms of this biosphere revolution is still fragmentary, partly due to the incomplete paleontological data constrained by the availability of taphonomic windows. This study underlines the potential of chert Lagersttten to supplement our understanding of the biospheric changes across the EdiacaranCambrian boundary. Cherts from eight outcrops in different sedimentary facies of the Yangtze craton demonstrate contrasting fossil assemblages between the topmost Ediacaran and the basal Cambrian intervals. The Ediacaran assemblage is uniform and dominated by enigmatic string- and strap-like fossils, while the Terreneuvian assemblage encompasses a large variety of carbonaceous microfossils and mineralized skeletons, reflecting a novel complex ecosystem. Both assemblages have members that are distributed from proximal to distal facies. Notably, various peculiar filmy fossils of possible metazoan affinities are common in the Cambrian assemblage but appear to be absent in the Ediacaran and older cherts, implying abrupt innovation of complex multicellular eukaryotes in the earliest Cambrian. Although the innovation has been observed in continuously outcropping chert successions across the EdiacaranCambrian boundary, further investigation is required to test whether the contrasting fossil assemblages reflect taphonomic bias or an inconspicuous hiatus.

DOI: 10.1130/G52956.1

Source: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/doi/10.1130/G52956.1/652710/Chert-Lagerstatten-as-a-new-window-to-theredirectedFrom=fulltext